23 - 24 SEPTEMBRE 2010

- 24 SEPTEMBRE :

- GRECE : Athènes - Greek archaeologists will begin work to restore the ancient school where philosopher Aristotle taught his pupils nearly 2,500 years ago. Aristotle lived from 384 to 322 BC, studied under Plato and tutored Alexander the Great. Later, in 335 BC in Athens, he taught in the grounds of the Lyceum, a meeting place of the Athenian assembly and public sports complex frequented by the city's young men. The ancient school is located outside the walls of ancient Athens and was sacked and razed to the ground by the Roman General Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 86 BC. It was later rebuilt. The site's location remained unknown for centuries until it was rediscovered in 1996 during excavations for Athens' New Museum of Modern Art.

- IRAK : Dhiqar - The Antiquities Department says French archaeologists have recently unearthed a new Sumerian temple in the southern Province of Dhiqar. The department’s information officer, Abdulzahra al-Talaqani, said a team of French excavators did a short season of digging at al-Rafaai, the district where the Sumerian temple was found. The French were expected to resume digging to provide a good picture of the new discovery, he said. Details are sketchy but Talaqani said the department would provide by December “the engineering details that will elucidate (the temple’s) archaeological significance and its contents.”

- POLOGNE : Golancz - Archaeologists in northern Poland have uncovered a mass grave that they believe dates back to the 17th century and a battle to save Golancz Castle. On the 3rd of May 1656 the Swedish army attacked Golancz Castle. In an attempt to defend the castle Polish gentry, clergy and peasants rose against the army but they failed and now archaeologists believe that there could be up to 80 of their bodies buried in this mass grave. Archaeologists found a battle grave in the Lower Castle’s yard. So far they managed to uncover remains of seventeen people buried in three layers. It's thought that after the siege which took place at the castle the Swedes then killed several hundred of the defenders. It's believed that they then dug a huge, secret grave in the yard beside the castle. Judging by the arrangement of the skeletons, the bodies were thrown into the grave, not properly buried. Some skulls were broken, which means that Swedes probably finished the injured off with cobble stones. They were buried naked because no personal belongings or clothes were found in the grave.

- ROYAUME-UNI : Outlane - Local archaeologists have discovered Huddersfield’s long-lost circus or sporting arena, built by the Romans in the village of Outlane nearly 2,000 years ago. And they believe crowds of up to 2,000 would pack into the amphitheatre to watch horsemanship displays by the Roman cavalry.The soldiers were based at the Slack Roman fort, built to protect the military road from Chester to York. The fort was fully active from about AD 80 to AD 140 and housed a cavalry unit that could spring into action to quell any uprising by the local Brigantian tribe and was active in the Roman conquest of the north. Archaeologists believe was the amphitheatre used by the troops to exercise and to show off their horsemanship skills. Roman forts had paved areas outside the walls where soldiers could exercise and train for battle. Some cavalry forts had an enclosed circus area where horses could be trained and sometimes raced for the entertainment of the garrison and this is what we have found. Horse racing and chariot racing was common throughout the Roman Empire and the circus recently discovered at Colchester is the largest so far found in Britain. The one found at Outlane is about 80 metres in diameter but the exact shape is not known because New Hey Road cuts right through the middle of it and much of it has been built over. The section excavated near Slack Lane has a hard compacted area of stone and rubble which would form the floor of the arena with a curving bank of stone and earth on the outside.

- ALBANIE : Durres - A redevelopment project in this Albanian town has been halted after construction work discovered a sixth-century tomb. Two years ago, Albania created a state archeological service, but laws meant to ensure that potential archaeological sites were excavated ahead of development were regularly ignored. Officials say they don't know how many sites may have been lost to construction. Archeologists now intend to build a shelter over the tomb discovered in Durres last weekend, which contained bones but no artifacts, and to dig around it in the hope of finding an entire cemetery. Durres is flooded with such tombs. They are typical of the Byzantine period when people began to abandon this area due to the attacks from Avars, Goths and later Slavs referring to people that invaded the Balkans in successive waves. The tomb discovery provides a good indication of archeological remains that could lie beneath. The grave was uncovered less than four meters deep, near the retaining wall of a previously excavated second-century amphitheatre.

- RUSSIE : Tobolsk - Expedition has found a treasure of ancient coins – national and foreign – in Bazarnaya (Market) Square of Tobolsk, Tyumen Region. For some weeks Tyumen archeologists and students examined the square. They also found massive constructions, and animal shelters, as well as numerous utensils: ceramics, fragments of dishes and clothes dating back to the 18th -19th centuries. However, the major value of the treasure is not material. The find has become another important proof that in the past Tobolsk used to be a large trading center on the way from Europe to Asia.

- IRLANDE : Connemara - A complex series of weirs and dams to trap rare fish on Errislannan peninsula may date back to the Mesolithic period, according to the archaeologist who made the discovery. Mr Gibbons was walking on the north side of Errislannan, outside Clifden, when he came across the stone ponds, channels and dams linking Mannin Bay to several inner lagoons. He learned that the system was designed to enclose and trap a fish called “marin” or “mearachán”, which is similar to a smelt, and may be related to shad, which frequent the river Barrow.